I'm not liking what I'm hearing about the the problems with the MacBook's stock hard drives, I guess the hard drive makers are seeing their demise with Apple introducing SSD options now, so they are dropping quality to make as much money before closing shop. This isn't a good thing for our data and system reliability.

Words of Wisdom? You have to be kidding.

Cut the conspiracy theory. That is the most asinine thing I have heard.

Good news. It will make for fairer Windows 7 vs. Mac OS X reviews than last time when Vista was compared to Tiger instead of Leopard.

I'm sure a few Windows fansites will still compare W7 to Leopard instead of Snow Leopard though, just to try and skew things in their favour (i.e., W7 doesn't appear to be a fustercluck like Vista).

As for everyone else, wait for 10.6.2 for the early adopter bugs to be ironed out. Which will arrive just around time for the next Mac upgrades (Mac Mini or MacBook Pro, haven't decided which one to get yet).

Oh yes, the newer iLife certainly won't be included in SL upgrade disks.

Another good reason to wait for Snow Leopard INSTALL disks if buying a new Mac.

Of course if money is no object, then by all means get it.

Is there any chance of the actual install disks being included before September 8? I was hoping to get the best of both worlds by getting Snow Leopard with the iPod back to school promotion. Say I order a system from the Apple online store sometime next week. Will it come with 10.6 installed or 10.5 installed with a 10.6 upgrade disk?

Anyone know how quickly I might expect my Mac Up-to-Date discs to arrive? I placed my order shortly after getting my new mini last month. From past experience, anyone know if Apple ships those right away, or waits until the release day rush has subsided? Thanks.

Great news! Now I only hope this will install to a blank hard drive. I'm treating my MacBook on a bigger harddrive to accompany the Snow Leopard update... Having to Install Leopard just to be able to install SL would be quite cumbersome.

Now for the great dillemma... 320GB 7200RPM vs 500GB 5400RPM...

500GB. It has a higher platter density, which means that even though it's "only" 5400RPM, it isn't necessarily slower. (We're talking about the Samsung drives here? I got the 320GB for my brother, and I just got the 500GB...)

"I have a dream, that one day, my posts will be judged by their content, not their spelling."

This is very good advice....hard to follow though with all the excitement to do a quick upgrade! I think I will at least wait a week to see the forums as far as problems.

I wasn't going to upgrade because I plan to replace my computer early next year but as soon as the word came down that Apple was releasing the new OS on Friday, I got this overwhelming urge to upgrade my current Mac, even if it will only be for a few months.

The price is right and if I can spend around that much money for a movie that I might watch once or twice, I guess a few months with a new OS is worth that outlay.

I have three Macs in the house. all with their own copies of OSX. Can I upgrade to the family pack for $49 or do I need to have a previous family pack to upgrade at that price? Also, will the family pack stop my laptop from saying "iChat already has you logged in under the same username?

Thanks!

aren't you going to miss being the smarter minority when Apple goes mainstream?

Good news. It will make for fairer Windows 7 vs. Mac OS X reviews than last time when Vista was compared to Tiger instead of Leopard.

I'm sure a few Windows fansites will still compare W7 to Leopard instead of Snow Leopard though, just to try and skew things in their favour (i.e., W7 doesn't appear to be a fustercluck like Vista).

As for everyone else, wait for 10.6.2 for the early adopter bugs to be ironed out. Which will arrive just around time for the next Mac upgrades (Mac Mini or MacBook Pro, haven't decided which one to get yet).

I'm in the same boat but my concern is all the talk of the Mini being discontinued. Hopefully there is at least one more hardware update planned for the Mini because if there is, that's the machine I'm going to buy. If not, then the MacBook Pro it is.

Excellent. Now to try to find time to do the upgrade this weekend. Two kids at home under 20 months, one is sick and my 5 year anniversary is Friday. Don't think it will go over very well to ask the wife to watch the kids and delay going out for dinner so I can do the install.

And IT just gave me a new Mac Mini at work on Friday. Guess I can see about getting them to upgrade it on Friday, but will probably end up doing it myself next week. The G5 someone dropped in my office last week can't be upgraded.

"My 8th grade math teacher once said: "You can't help it if you're dumb, you are born that way. But stupid is self inflicted."" -Hiro.

I have three Macs in the house. all with their own copies of OSX. Can I upgrade to the family pack for $49 or do I need to have a previous family pack to upgrade at that price? Also, will the family pack stop my laptop from saying "iChat already has you logged in under the same username?

Thanks!

I think you are fine with the licensing. I don't think it stipulates that the machines had to be using a family pack previously. The only qualification I see on their site is:

Quote:

The Family Pack Software License Agreement allows you to install and use one copy of the Apple software on up to a maximum of five (5) Apple-labeled computers at a time as long as those computers are located in the same household and used by persons who occupy that household

But the iChat message will still be there. I think that is the AIM protocol that only allows you to be logged in at a single location at a time. maybe there is a setting in iChat to disable the disconnect message, but you will still be disconnected.

"My 8th grade math teacher once said: "You can't help it if you're dumb, you are born that way. But stupid is self inflicted."" -Hiro.

I'm in the same boat but my concern is all the talk of the Mini being discontinued. Hopefully there is at least one more hardware update planned for the Mini because if there is, that's the machine I'm going to buy. If not, then the MacBook Pro it is.

The update to the mini they just did earlier this summer was probably about the biggest update you'll see for awhile (new graphics, miniDisplayPort, FW800, "n" wifi). If/when the next update comes it will likely be very minor. So unless you think there's going to be some new hardware spec it's going to gain, or a price drop, both of which are unlikely, you might as well get the current model and start enjoying it. Probably not worth the wait.

Many of us still use Intuit's Quicken (no Universal version available yet) and Photoshop CS2 (have you checked the price of CS4?)

Yes, but the Rosetta install (which allows Intel Macs to run PPC code) is now optional. I don't know how this is implemented in the Snow Leopard upgrade procedure, but if it's not obvious, a lot of users will be tripped up. This could become the number one complaint.

I'd almost prefer not to see the leaks, but it is so hard these days unless you turn off the internet. I will be getting mine on Friday. I had zero issues with Leopard from Day one... I might be the exception to the rule, but can't wait of SL to be unleashed!

I've been thinking about this whole leak thing too. It occurred to me that it's kinda like the game we used to play with our parents as kids. We'd beg them to tell us what they got us for Christmas: "Is it this? Is it that? Give me a hint." We'd even look under their bed and in closets. It was fun trying to find out, and sometimes we did. But it was even more fun NOT to find out and be totally surprised. Apple is mom and dad. We can't help ourselves and the rumor sites become our grown-up begging. It's fun to seek, but even more fun to be surprised. I'm glad Apple is so secretive and glad when we fail to discover what's under the bed.

Does anyone know if it's better to install Quicktime X with SL or keep the Quicktime Pro that I currently have with Leopard 10.5? I have lots of 3rd party plug-ins with my current Quicktime Pro, will QTX be as feature rich as an older QT Pro? What's the best advice? I heard that there's an option not to install the new QTX when installing SL, is that true? Can both QTX and older QT Pro be installed on the same machine? Thanks

Thanks for that....did I read that SL will have an automatic compatibility check as part of the install?

I remember upgrading to Leopard from Tiger and my "Transparent Dock" app crashed it to a blue screen.

I was thinking of just taking all my 'secondary' apps like aquisition, handbrake, PDF Pen, PDF Shrink, Fetch, SnapNDrag, EasyBatch Photo, SMARTReporter, etc., and temporarily taking them out of the Applications folder and upgrading to SL and then put them back in the Application Folder.

Any Thoughts!

I've been keeping my secondary apps in other folder I call "AddedApps" instead of in "Applications". They seem to work fine that way. And, like you, I put them back in after I do an upgrade.

Does anyone know if it's better to install Quicktime X with SL or keep the Quicktime Pro that I currently have with Leopard 10.5? I have lots of 3rd party plug-ins with my current Quicktime Pro, will QTX be as feature rich as an older QT Pro? What's the best advice? I heard that there's an option not to install the new QTX when installing SL, is that true? Can both QTX and older QT Pro be installed on the same machine? Thanks

More importantly (to me), will QuickTimeX fix the issue of QuickTime (and therefore FrontRow) not being able to play the 5.1 surround audio from iTunes Store purchases? FrontRow plays 5.1 off DVDs and video_TS files just fine, and the iTunes application will play the 5.1 audio, but with iTunes store purchases in FrontRow you are stuck with with ProLogic matrix surround instead of the real thing.

Does anyone know if it's better to install Quicktime X with SL or keep the Quicktime Pro that I currently have with Leopard 10.5? I have lots of 3rd party plug-ins with my current Quicktime Pro, will QTX be as feature rich as an older QT Pro? What's the best advice? I heard that there's an option not to install the new QTX when installing SL, is that true? Can both QTX and older QT Pro be installed on the same machine? Thanks

I would install both, FWIW. I did not notice an option to NOT install QTX, just an option to include QT7. BTW, QuickTime Player 7 gets installed in /Applications/Utilities/ if you opt for it.

Great news! Now I only hope this will install to a blank hard drive. I'm treating my MacBook on a bigger harddrive to accompany the Snow Leopard update... Having to Install Leopard just to be able to install SL would be quite cumbersome.

Now for the great dillemma... 320GB 7200RPM vs 500GB 5400RPM...

That's not a dilemma. Go with the 7200RPM if you care about speed. I have the WD 2.5" version in my MBP 17 and it is whisper quiet and FAST.

Pity the agnostic dyslectic. They spend all their time contemplating the existence of dog.

I've been thinking about this whole leak thing too. It occurred to me that it's kinda like the game we used to play with our parents as kids. We'd beg them to tell us what they got us for Christmas: "Is it this? Is it that? Give me a hint." We'd even look under their bed and in closets. It was fun trying to find out, and sometimes we did. But it was even more fun NOT to find out and be totally surprised. Apple is mom and dad. We can't help ourselves and the rumor sites become our grown-up begging. It's fun to seek, but even more fun to be surprised. I'm glad Apple is so secretive and glad when we fail to discover what's under the bed.

Great analogy. Now if you could just tell us why spouses cheat, I think we could solve the secrets of the universe.

Pity the agnostic dyslectic. They spend all their time contemplating the existence of dog.

Yes, but the Rosetta install (which allows Intel Macs to run PPC code) is now optional. I don't know how this is implemented in the Snow Leopard upgrade procedure, but if it's not obvious, a lot of users will be tripped up. This could become the number one complaint.

You can choose to install Rosetta during the customize option install.

If you don't, and you try and run Quicken, you get a message asking if you would like to install Rosetta to run Quicken. It installs and runs without a reboot even.

So - no worries.

I must say - Quicken is the ONLY application that I need this for, and it really irks me that they are such a laggard of a company. Unfortunately they are the only ones that do what I need them to in terms of banking, or I would switch in a second.

I just talked with one of the Apple Store online reps and he told me that regardless of what your ship date is showing for Up To Date, you will get your copy of SL on August 28th. This is only for the US. But it makes me happy!

I am thinking about buying the Mac Box Set to update my macbook pro from Tiger as my birthday present to myself. It there any benefit to doing a clean install and then reinstalling all my apps/files or does the mac install work well enough that I will not be hurting anything installing the update straight from Tiger.

I hope that Apple includes it as a desktop picture, because I can't stand the psychedelic purple of Leopard desktop. And I'm sure that I am not the only one to dislike the dark, agressive, psychedelic purple of Leopard desktop.